misfire/stuttering and gauge issues

[remmargorp]

I have a few issues with my 91 Plymouth Laser (issues have accumulated over time)



1) Oil pressure gauge is reading low or 0

I need to check the electrical connection that I have read is common to fall off, I will provide an update if that is the issue

Not really sure where to go if it's not the issue



2) Temperature gauge is pegged (super hot)

I assume the "Engine coolant temperature gauge unit" is bad, it reads cool when the car is off, after starting it gradually increases until it reaches the extent of the gauge. Radiator fan does come on when necessary.

Unless someone provides different feedback, I'm thinking swap out that sensor (or test it first)?



3) Fuel gauge reads max full

Not really sure where to start, I've read mixed feedback. Stock everything with no modifications, I've never messed with the fuel pump for the float to get stuck (doesn't mean it's not stuck).

What is recommended? I'm drawing a blank on where to start here



4) Car bogs down / stutters during acceleration, sounds like a WRX STi during idle and steady driving. It seems like it gets better as the car warms up but can occur even when warmed up.

Quick maintenance history, 2 years ago the exhaust pipe near the rear tire rusted through, I replaced the exhaust system with a stock replacement cat-back (including the catalytic converter), a year later (1 year ago) the same spot rusted through again, I replaced piping and muffler behind the cat (not including the cat this time).

Performance was fine for a while then in the spring it began to degrade, it's slowly grown worse over time

I recently replaced the spark plugs, cylinders 4, 2 and 1 looked good, cylinder 3 was black but didn't have a ton of soot (obviously warn different than the other spark plugs), the plugs themselves were very warn (NGK BPR6ES), I replaced them with NGK BPR6ES gapped at 0.028". (Did not change spark plug wires, I had replaced spark plugs a few years ago and installed heavier spark plug wires than stock)

Checked compression during the change, I don't have the exact numbers but cylinders 4, 2 and 1 read approx 170 and cylinder 3 read 160ish (maybe 165). I plan to re-check the compression (and write it down)

After new spark plugs I re-gained some performance (could actually accelerate without completely bogging down) but the rough performance was still there (almost feels like the car vibrates a little from the issue)

Over the past few days we've had some cold mornings, the car would start but immediately stall (no chance to idle), today the car took a little bit to start, I let it warm up for a few minutes then started to drive, the car would not accelerate up the hill near-by, finally kicked in then accelerated up the hill until I shifted and then it bogged down for a little then kicked in again

I've read a bunch of mixed troubleshooting steps for misfires (which it seems like I'm having), from power transistors to sensors to injectors to fuel filters to CAS to FPR to boost leaks.

All seemingly good troubleshooting steps, my question would be, given the symptoms above, what to start with?

 

[remmargorp]

1) Checked the connection to the oil sending unit and it seems secure

2) I have not had a chance to install a new temperature sensor

3) Have not started to address this

4) I dug out my old Palm m100, found the CD's for MMCd, MMCd Tools and Palm Desktop (MMCd Tools apparently doesn't like Excel 2007 as it does not export to XLS)

I logged a few of my drives (all sensors), dug out some of my old records but like a dummy I didn't log enough data (only selected like 2 sensors) in 2005 so I have nothing to compare it against accept RPM, KNCK and TIMA

See attachment, the date + time is off, this was my drive into work this morning, not as rough as the other days (warmer than the other days this morning), hopefully someone has experience with mmcd data and can help compare

What stands out to me is FTRL/FTRM/FTRH, I assume these are fuel trims?, they are all reading at 131% or higher

How can I determine if my ECU is in "limp home" mode, as I've read it causes the car to run richer as a precaution, I would assume the fuel trim would be >100% in those cases

 

[socalmk1]

I would change the coolant sensor, check all your wiring connections, vacuum lines, compression test and do a boost leak test to start.

 

[remmargorp]

Still need to resolve the coolant, oil and fuel gauge issues however I resolved the mis-firing/stuttering issue

I swapped out the spark plugs, no improvement, pulled the plugs and 1 was warn different than the others which leads to an issue with that cylinder. Confirmed issue with single cylinder by pulling the plug wires one at a time while the car was idling, the cylinder with the fouled plug did not affect the performance when the plug wire was pulled, arc was present which leads to a fuel issue on that cylinder

I ended up replacing the fuel filter, the filter material started to break down which led to a clogged fuel injector (one really clogged injector, the others had filter element in them but still functioning)

I ended up replacing all 4 injectors (might have been able to clean the injectors but I thought it best to replace them)


Spark plugs:

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Gas on the left is from the fuel filter outlet, gas on the right is from the fuel line (before inlet):

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Clogged fuel injector (filled with broken down particles from fuel filter):

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[Turbodkan28]

i think im having the same problem new to dsms but i just replaced the spark plugs with BPR6EY and i think one of my injectors are bad thinking of getting a new guel filter too . Did you fix the problem and if soo what did you do to fix the problem in need of HELP ASAP its my DD
My car does sound like a WRX and shakes really bad also when driving and runs like shit
Som mornings runs great but when i shut it off and start it like 15 mins later runs lik shit again

 

[remmargorp]

Turbodkan28 - I wasn't clear in my last post, I resolved the issue by swapping the fuel injectors (all 4) and fuel filter

The fuel filter element was deteriorating which clogged the injectors causing the poor performance, shaking and making it sound like a WRX. All were partially clogged but one was completely not functioning.

Might have been able to get away with cleaning the injectors but I decided to swap them all (parts from RockAuto, the only vendor local or internet that I could find that carried stock replacement injectors).

 

[92AWDHX40]

Basic boost leak test?

 

[Rsawd95dsm]

For the fuel gauge being off I would check the ground near the fuel tank because thats been my problem before was a bad ground